Favorite Photo of the Week: Seattle Skyline at Night 09.10.11

I am going to keep this post short as I just got home from work not too long ago and I am exhausted. My favorite photo this week is an edit I did for the Shoot and Edit: Good to Wow Challenge. The theme was night and the tutorial was about reducing noise. This photo was taken from Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill looking at the Seattle Skyline. You can read more about my experience capturing this shot here. I love the perspective of the Space Needle from this vantage point and I love how this edit warmed up the shot!

One more thing...recently one of the link ups that I love was discontinued so the owner could pursue a new link up. Lisa at The Long Road to China used to host Black and White Wednesday and now hosts Favorite Photo Friday. When I found out Black and White Wednesday was ending I contemplated starting my own link up. In an effort to respect what Lisa created I emailed her about my desire to start this. I also wanted her to know that she was the one who inspired me. The outcome of all of this is a link up to start on Tuesday called Tones on Tuesday. A place to show off your black and white and sepia toned photos. I hope you will come back on Tuesday and link up! And finally, here is my photo :o)!

Settings: ISO 400, 74mm, ss3.2, f/6.3 (full manual on tripod)

"Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Linking up with the sites below and learning from amazing photographers! Be sure to check them out!

Lake Washington at Night 08.19.11

The weather in Washington has been beautiful for the past few days with blue skies and sunshine. If you know anything about the Pacific Northwest, you know that is something to rejoice in. Last night after work my mom and I decided to try to see a sunset on Lake Washington. We headed to St. Edwards State Park first. It is a beautiful park, but requires quite a hike to get down to the water. There was no way to make it down before sunset. We then headed to nearby O.O. Denny Park just as the sun had set. While we did not win the race for the sunset, the sky was still beautiful. I was able to capture some pretty post sunset shots and then a few night shots (luckily I bring my tripod with me everywhere!).

The photo I am posting today is one of those night shots. My goal was to communicate the peaceful atmosphere and showcase the light from across the lake reflecting on the water. I opened the shutter for a long exposure to get this shot and bumped up the ISO. The one thing I think it is lacking is some sharpness with the lights on the shore. Should I have gone with a much higher ISO and lower shutter speed? Or is there another solution? I would love suggestions!

I am putting up the straight out of the camera shot (SOOC) and an edit I did. It is a vertical shot, too!

Settings: ISO 400, 30 sec, f/13 (full manual, on tripod)

I think this is what would be called a creative edit as I went for a more artistic interpretation rather than going with trying to make the picture match what I saw with my naked eye. For this edit I used the custom white balance tool in Lightroom, played with the tone curve and maxed out the vibrance. What do you think?

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day." - Vincent Van Gogh

Astoria Column Sunset 08.06.11

After waiting for the sky to clear for most of the day, there was finally a break in the clouds just in time for sunset. I headed up to the Astoria Column, which overlooks the city of Astoria Oregon. I did not climb the 166 steps to the top this time but stayed in the parking area to view the sunset. This picture was taken toward the end of sunset and involved a long exposure time and a high aperture. In post processing, I played around with the color levels to pull out the pinks, oranges and purples. There is something I love about the composition as it looks like a painting. The blurry appearance was unintended, but in some ways I feel it adds to the overall painting feel. My goal was to capture the contrast of colors with the sky and the landscape while conveying this magical time of day. 

While I feel that this photo has a ways to go to be what I want it to, I did have a moment during this shoot that made me feel like I at least look like I know what I am doing. A fellow photographer asked if my name was Kim. When I told him it wasn't he said that she was a local woman who took a lot of beautiful pictures around the area. I was happy to look like a local photographer :o).

Settings: ISO 100, 1"3, f/16

"The sacred lamp of day
Now dipt in western clouds his parting day." 

- William Falconer, The Shipwreck